Legislature pushes back

By JIMMY VIELKIND, Capitol bureau
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First published: Sunday, June 27, 2010

ALBANY — A week ago, New York lacked a final budget plan for the current fiscal year. Today, we have two of them — along with two branches of government using two different strategies to stuff their plan down the throat of the other.

Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature hurtled closer to a collision on Saturday, as leaders in the Senate and Assembly announced they had reached an alternative spending plan, although they failed to explain how they would pay for many of its funding restorations. Paterson put out his own final budget blueprint on Friday, wrapped into the latest weekly extender required to keep state government operating.

Saturday’s announcement added a new twist to the political gamesmanship between the executive and legislative branches: The Legislature’s plan will appear in both chambers as amended versions of budget bills handed down by the governor in January. Because these are Paterson’s bills, the governor won’t be able to veto them. Instead, he would have to settle for rejecting the changes made by the Legislature.

In response to Saturday’s developments, Paterson called lawmakers back to Albany for a rare Sunday special session. But while the governor can bring them to the chamber, he can’t force them to act on his extender. The Legislature’s plan, which hit desks in both chambers late Friday night, will be aged and ready for voting on Monday.

It remains unclear if the legislation, after being whittled down by Paterson, will be sufficient to stave off a government shutdown after Monday.

The last-minute negotiations between Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson yielded a plan that would restore $300 million more school aid than the final offer released Friday in Paterson’s emergency appropriation. The legislative plan leaves a gap of about $1 billion in revenue-raising items; Paterson’s plan included the revenue actions.

Legislators agreed to amend budget bills handed down by the governor in January to blunt the proposed cut in school aid by $600 million — instead of the $300 million restoration Paterson proposed in his final extender — and appropriate more money to higher education and social service programs than did Paterson’s extender. Legislators also rolled back many cuts to Medicaid already enacted, and rejected Paterson’s proposal to allow SUNY and CUNY campuses to raise tuition.

But revenue items remain unresolved, which means that budget negotiations could continue to drag on as the second quarter of the budget-less fiscal year approaches.

“We recognize that New York faces extraordinary fiscal challenges, and that this budget will include billions in cuts,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said in a statement released Saturday. “However, we are committed to sparing our schools from the most devastating cuts and ensuring that our higher education system remains accessible to all New Yorkers. We are also committed to acting responsibly with the Senate and the governor to complete this process and to continue the operations of government.”

Legislators have passed 12 extenders since the budget deadline passed on April 1, and Paterson in recent weeks has realized that the pass-it-or-shut-down-government calculus allows him an opportunity to force the Legislature to approve things they would reject under normal circumstances, such as a plan to furlough state workers (subsequently shot down in court), cut Medicaid and raise taxes on cigarettes — all fearing the wrath of voters angered by shuttered DMV offices and nursing homes.

After setting June 28 as the deadline for the Legislature to reach a final deal, Paterson decided to include a tax cap that is anathema to many liberals and tax hikes revolting to conservatives.

The past week ended with an impasse, as the governor left legislative leaders sitting in Albany on Thursday, and did not meet with them until Friday evening — after his extender was released to the public.

Paterson’s spokesman Morgan Hook issued a statement pointing to flaws in the legislative plan later Saturday and belittling its restorations. Hook said the legislative plan also does not account for $1 billion in Medicaid funding that was predicted to come from Washington, but is held up in a political dispute.

“What is clear is that the Legislature has not introduced any revenue actions, which are necessary to balance and complete the budget,” said Hook. “In typical Albany fashion, the Legislature is now touting its spending and restorations to the governor’s proposed cuts, while failing to provide a way to pay for them.”

Early Friday, Silver was asked if Paterson was making a good-faith effort to negotiate.

“I think we’ll find that out over the weekend,” he said. “I don’t know.”